BOONE- On Halloween Night, Armanti Edwards wore his normal Mountaineer uniform, but played like Superman as Appal
achian destroyed Wofford 70-24 in front of a record setting Kidd Brewer Stadium crowd and a national TV audience.Edwards tied a school record with five touchdown passes and accounted for 440 yards of total offense. With Friday’s performance, Edwards set the Southern Conference record for total yards that was previously held by former Mountaineer Richie Williams. Edwards completed 17-of-19 passes.
The battle between SoCon rivals appeared like it was going to be a shootout in the first quarter. The teams traded touchdowns as Ben Jorden caught two touchdown passes as the Terriers answered on their following possessions.
"In the first quarter, I thought who ever had the ball last would win,” Mountaineer Coach Jerry Moore said. “It was a great night. We had a great week of preparation. In the coaches’ locker room before the game there was a lot of electricity. It was a nationally televised game on ESPN2 there was a lot of hype so we just felt as a coaching staff that things were really pointing to a great night for us.”
Aft
er Robert Melton gave App a 21-14 lead, Mark Legree and the Mountaineer Defense stepped up as LeGree intercepted a Terrier pass. After that, the Mountaineers never let up as they raced out to a 42-14 lead, and never looked back.“We felt like we had to go out and keep putting up touchdowns on them because field goals are ok but it’s not enough against a team like Wofford, “ Mountaineer Tight End Ben Jorden said. “Even when they’re down two or three touchdowns they’re never out of the game, so we felt like we couldn’t let up on them.”
For the Mountaineers, it was a crucial game that put them in control of their own destiny in the race for the Southern Conference title. It was also a game to prove that the Mountaineers are worth the hype that the game and the team is receiving.
“This was our chance to show the country what it looks like when we put together a complete game,” Jorden said. “We haven’t done that so far this season so we felt like we could use this stage to show everybody what we can do.”
“I had a lot of people at school come up and ask me if I thought we had a chance, we’re the No. 2 team in the nation so I feel like of course we have a chance,” Edwards said. “Nobody gave us a chance to win this game so we really took that to heart.. Of course we had a chip on our shoulders, they beat us last year and a lot of people were expecting the same thing again so we felt like we had to come out and make a statement."
Brian Quick was Edward’s main target as he had four catches for 172 yards and three
touchdowns.Avery County’s Josh Johnson had two competitions for 18 yards in the contest for the Mountaineers. In all, the Mountaineers had a staggering 620 yards of total offense.
Watauga’s Eric Britenstein led the Terrier rushing attack with 157 yards.
Appalachian will travel to Chattanooga next Saturday to take on the Mocs of UTC.
